help with garage band panning- tried everything :-(

Question

Level 1

9 points

help with garage band panning- tried everything :-(

hi everybody-

just registered today and couldn't find my answer in the search feature.

is there a problem with completely panning sounds on garage band hard left or hard right? i'm recording a stereo input thru an ozone keyboard to my ibook and the count off is panned hard left so only i can hear it in the phones. the right side goes to the house pa. it shows that it tracks hard left to garage band but when i play the recording (and export it) i hear it in on the other ( right side) .

i even set up a mpc loop that was EVERYTHING panned left, output, garage band input, pan curve adjusted on garage band, and STILL is in the right side just a bit.

i've turned all off the effects on all the tracks as per the instructions. no effects, bone dry. and that's both the track. i also noticed that hard panning on garage band registers like 67 or something, not 100. is that the cause? no tru panning? even when i use the curve to do a hard pan it plays out of the other speaker just a bit.

what is going on?

thanks so much, glad to be here !!!

ibook Mac OS X (10.3.9)

ibook, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Mar 19, 2006 1:55 AM

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Answer 1

roundbadger Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 19, 2006 2:02 AM in response to roundbadger

sorry, bad proofreading. the master track is dry too, as per the garage band help section. no compression or reverb anywhere in the system.

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Answer 2

Mar 19, 2006 8:03 AM in response to roundbadger

Your instrument is a mono source, right? So you don't want to use a stereo track for a mono source. If you want the headphone/PA split you describe, record the keyboard on a mono track, and the count in on another mono track, then you can pan each wherever you want. When you record a mono (single output) source to a stereo track (channels 1 & 2), it is only on one of the 2 channels since it is a mono source. So when you pan one way the sound is gone, and the other way it is all on one side, because you are panning from one channel to another. Two separate mono tracks will get you what you are trying to do I think.

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Answer 3

roundbadger Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 19, 2006 10:20 AM in response to Scott Laughlin-Richard

hey there- thanks for the reply... no, it's a stereo source, an mpc 1000 using both the right and left outs to a stereo out from the ozone keyboard. ( using an insert cable) maybe it''s something to do with channels 1 and 2 on garage band?

i hear your idea, i may have to record in mono 2X, but it worked on my friend"s logic program just fine.

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Answer 4

Mar 19, 2006 4:50 PM in response to roundbadger

Not likely that it is GB. Logic and GB are quite different, but also alike, in such a basic way as this. I'd perhaps suspect the cable for starters. If I recall, an insert cable is slightly different than a stereo cable. yes?

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Answer 5

Mar 19, 2006 6:28 PM in response to roundbadger

" it worked on my friend"s logic program just fine."

Was that Logic Pro? If so just remember that it's capable for 5.1, where as Garageband is not. When you pan left/right you've got a mono track. In Logic it's still left or right but but its got the front/rear information included.

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Answer 6

Mar 19, 2006 7:53 PM in response to MyApple8MyPC

Hmmm, good point. Didn't think of that...

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Answer 7

roundbadger Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 19, 2006 8:03 PM in response to MyApple8MyPC

" it worked on my friend"s logic program just
fine."

Was that Logic Pro? If so just remember that it's
capable for 5.1, where as Garageband is not. When you
pan left/right you've got a mono track. In Logic it's
still left or right but but its got the front/rear
information included.

that's interesting 🙂 but a little too advanced 🙂 i think it might be the insert cable " leaking" somehow. i don't know exactly how they operate. i'm a try two seperate mono tracks tonight or tomorrow panned hard and linked. maybe that'll work?

ya'll are really helpful, thanks

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Answer 8

Mar 19, 2006 8:20 PM in response to roundbadger

"i think it might be the insert cable " leaking" somehow."

Cables can't leak. I think you might mean shorting, but if they were shorting you'd have all kinds of other problems too. It's easy enough to try another cable to double check this though.

Also, where are your headphones plugged into? The keyboard or your amp?

And just so we're on the same page, you're using the 1/4" stereo input on the keyboard right?

"ya'll are really helpful"

That's really good to hear. Feel free to click on those cool little "Helpful" buttons 🙂

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Answer 9

roundbadger Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 19, 2006 9:27 PM in response to MyApple8MyPC

hey again-

by leaking, i mean that the insert cable may be allowing some of the signal to pass thru the r or l side, but that sounds crazy as i write it. that can't be it...

ok, here's the problem..............i realized over the past hour that the problem happens when i export the track to i tunes. everything is working well with garage band, but somehow when i export it, THAT"S when i hear the count off on the right( leakage) it tracks in garage band fine, everything looks good, and it plays back in garage band just fine as written, countr off panned hard left.

but as soon as i export it, i hear the count off in both speakers. like i tunes is changing the mix. i looked at i tunes preferences, but nothing is looking out of place....

hope this helps. i'm gonna get this if it kills me.......

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Answer 10

Mar 19, 2006 9:44 PM in response to roundbadger

"the insert cable may be allowing some of the signal to pass thru the r or l side"

Your cables should be shielded so that shouldn't happen ( unless you bought your cable from Wal-Mart). I think you're thinking about crosstalk or circuit separation.

"THAT"S when i hear the count off on the right"

Do you mean the metronome?

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Answer 11

roundbadger Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 19, 2006 10:01 PM in response to MyApple8MyPC

no, i have my own count off on the real instrument loop that is tracking in itunes. the metronome is off. i play to the percussion tracks on the gig so i have a two bar count off so i know where it starts.

ok, this is just stupid............i just used the pan curve and panned everything to the left, the entire mix. i hear nothing when i play it back in garage band on the opposite, right hand side. it only comes out of the left side, as it should. when i export it to itunes with the tracks locked, i hear the whole mix on the right hand side, like the pan curve didn't make any difference.

something is really wrong here, either there's something really simple i'm not getting, or there's a big problem with exporting files.

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Answer 12

Mar 19, 2006 10:42 PM in response to roundbadger

It almost sounds like when you export it becomes mono. Can you verify if this happens just on your vocal count off track, or on all tracks? Try making a new recording and record JUST one instrument by panning to the left. Then export and see if you hear it out of both sides...

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Answer 13

roundbadger Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 19, 2006 10:55 PM in response to MyApple8MyPC

yea, that's what i was thinking. i messed with it for a second, unplugging the right channel out of the maching and just recording the left thru the interface with the same insert cable and also panning it all the way left. but i;m too tired to remember wht happened. i'll get to it in the AM.

have you ever heard of anything like this?

it's definitely an export issue. the meters look good on garage band and everything plays back as it should. i may also try panning a software instrument to see what happend with that.

maybe an m-box is in my future ( pro tools ) or logic, or digital performer, or nuendo,. but i really don't need, nor want to learn all that right now just to record some percussion tracks to mp3's.

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Answer 14

xs4is

Level 4

2,800 points

Mar 19, 2006 11:06 PM in response to roundbadger

Logic has the highest learning curve of all DAWs of all time. But it is a GREAT program because of that curve.

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Answer 15

Mar 19, 2006 11:10 PM in response to xs4is

That's why they call it 'Logic' ...because you need a lot of it to learn it :P

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